Hey Jaybe,
If most of your shooting is 120 yards or less, before you pass on any shots do at least try this.
Logon on to Cabelas and order some 444 flat points. Get enough to sight in and hunt with. IsayCabelas because, well, they have them. If you have an inline rated for 150 grainstry this.
First never use 150 grains with the 444[
]!
Put in75 grain T7 or 90 grains RS or BP and sight in dead on at 15 yards. Now this is not exact, but it should put you close to zero at 100 yards. Go ahead and test at 50 or 100 yds. At 100 yds, if you are above line of sight your muzzle velocity exceed 1400 fps, the opposite is true if you are below line of sight.
If below you can try increasing the charge. If you weigh charges try a 5 grain increase. To high? decrease by 2. Too low? increase by 2. Then increment by one until you zero at 100 yards.
If you measure by volume, increase 5 grains until you are above zero at 100 yards. Stop there. Your zero is a little beyond 100 yards.
Now lets look at the ballistics:
Range
Velocity
Energy
Moment
Elev
Wind
Lead
Slope
Time
(yards)
(ft/sec)
(ft-lbs)
(lb-sec)
(inches)
(inches)
(inches)
(in/yd)
(sec)
0
1400.0
1932.2
2.76
---
---
---
---
0.000
10
1378.6
1873.6
2.72
-0.46
0.03
3.8
+0.096
0.022
20
1357.7
1817.2
2.68
+0.40
0.12
7.7
+0.078
0.044
30
1337.2
1762.9
2.64
+1.07
0.27
11.6
+0.059
0.066
40
1317.3
1710.7
2.60
+1.55
0.48
15.6
+0.039
0.088
50
1297.9
1660.6
2.56
+1.83
0.75
19.6
+0.018
0.111
60
1279.0
1612.6
2.52
+1.90
1.08
23.7
-0.002
0.135
70
1260.5
1566.5
2.49
+1.76
1.47
27.9
-0.024
0.158
80
1242.6
1522.3
2.45
+1.40
1.92
32.1
-0.046
0.182
90
1225.2
1479.9
2.42
+0.81
2.43
36.3
-0.069
0.207
100
1208.0
1438.7
2.38
-0.01
3.00
40.7
-0.092
0.231
110
1191.5
1399.6
2.35
-1.06
3.64
45.1
-0.117
0.256
120
1175.8
1362.9
2.32
-2.37
4.33
49.5
-0.141
0.282
Not bad is it? More than enough to take any deer. Flat enough for 120 yards. And I GUARANTEE that the 444 with .300 Sectional density is going to burrow in, bust bone, and destroy vitals on shots you would pass up with the 295 PB's.
Happy Hunting, Phil